Trying to raid as Holy. Really considering Discipline...

So I've started to raid with my guild, and I've been raiding as healing. I pull my own weight, but I'm always lowest on meters out of the 3 healers. I know meters aren't everything, but everyone I talk to says that their raid healing improved significantly when they went Disc... yet every guide I read says Holy is the way to go.

Either I'm doing something wrong, or some information somewhere is outdated. I would love if it someone could explain the pros and cons of both specs for raid healing, and what you would suggest (and maybe some tips on how to go about using said spec in a good manner)

I've been reading lotta forum posts, but I still can't quite pin down what I should be doing in raids.

Thanks!

What are the three things a wise man fears?

The deep of the sea, a moonless night, and the wrath of a patient man.

What you oughta do is trying Disc out and see if you personally enjoy it. If it doesn't quite suit your fancy, then you go back to Holy, regardless of the fact that you might be lower on the meters. After all, they mean close to nothing, as healing is not a competitive stat.

Originally Posted by Ghostcrawler

Q: But who are the forum QQers going to QQ at now?
A: They'll find another name and still miss the point that Blizzard designs as a collective.

Disc priest here. I can tell you that from my experience, it's a LOT easier to heal as holy in 10 man instances. I am having no problem healing Sinestra 25 or Neffy HC 25, yet I still have problems healing Cho'gall (10) or even 5-mans sometimes.

I think disc is more of a support or tank healer. Doing raid healing as disc and putting the same effort, don't expect to go anywhere near holy (Talking about raid HEALING, not shield spamming, which if you just started raiding, shouldn't be viable anyway).

I raid as disc in our heroic 10man group. The first thing you need to know in 10m is your role. I am primarily tank healing, since we do not run with a pally (typically druid/shaman or druid/druid are the other 2 healers). If you do not have an designated "tank" healer already, disc could be the way to go. If you already have a holy pally, you can still definitely get by as disc, but personally I would stick with holy as it is better at raw raid healing.

In my 10man heroic we run holy paladin(tank), holy priest(raid), shaman/druid (raid) and together with my huge troughput and ultility(GS, hymn, hymn) we do more than okay. If you have a paladin on tank healing I'd go as holy, otherwise go disc and own that tank healing.

Fuck meters, I win them and I don't even stack MST. HST all the way baby.

In my opinion you should play the spec you enjoy most, so give Discipline a try and see what you like best.
Other things you can look at is your spell selection, and maybe your spec and gear, these can improve your performance by a lot.
Lastly: maybe your guild just doesn't need 3 healers.

Retired Holy PriestAs a rule, I try to act on the internet as I would in real life. If I have offended you, feel free to point it out. Unless I meant to offend you, I will probably apologize.

The reason disc always seems higher on raid meters is because shield absorbs count toward HPS. If you multishield before, say, lava spray on magmaw, you get ridiculous HPS, despite the high mana cost.
I would say stick with what you're comfortable and what your role dictates. If your raids are successful, look for ways to improve but don't rock the boat too much. If you are rolling with, say, a resto druid and pally as tank heals, disc is excellent support.
I will always prefer holy due to my read-and-react playstyle, though.

Evaluate what your raid NEEDS, if you dont have Aura Mastery or Raid Walls... consider Disc if anything for Barrier. Barrier, even on Normal Modes, is invaluable.... and on many hard mode fights youll find raid cooldowns (barrier, spirit link, rallying cry, raid wall) will be best used on rotation for specific abilities. (ie. Cho'gall rotate on Shadows Orders. Maloriak's Flame Breath, and even Chim's Fued. )

If you ENJOY disc.... then go disc, but dont weigh your raids wants heavier than what you enjoy.

Personally, I like both specs about equally... so whatever the fight demands Ill gear/reforge for. For you, that might be a different story.

I personnaly don't like disc. I feel that we have much less tools but I guess it's more a playstyle issue.
Try both spec and see what you are more comfortable with. It also depends of what you're doing. If you're tank healing I'd say that disc could be a really good option. But if u're always on the raid heal... Well I can be totally wrong (and I hope I am), but disc seems much less effective than Holy since the duration nurf of bubble.

Disc priest here. I can tell you that from my experience, it's a LOT easier to heal as holy in 10 man instances. I am having no problem healing Sinestra 25 or Neffy HC 25, yet I still have problems healing Cho'gall (10) or even 5-mans sometimes.

I think disc is more of a support or tank healer. Doing raid healing as disc and putting the same effort, don't expect to go anywhere near holy (Talking about raid HEALING, not shield spamming, which if you just started raiding, shouldn't be viable anyway).

I can not agree with that.
I 2-Healed Cho'gall (hero) as Diszi on my very first attempt with a Resto Druid. Guild had killed him 2 times before. Cant see why it should be this hard.
And Heroics? Are you kidding?

As a Disciplin Priest you need to have sort of a Plan figured out as what to do next, still you are quite flexible in my Opinion. Mana is never that much an Issue as it is with Holy and since Holy is only really strong in certain Situations, Disc is ALWAYS strong, no matter what u gotta do.

In 10-Man, go for Disc, i really Recommend it. In 25, Try Holy and Focus on Raid Healing. Alternate Groups with Pom and coh. You really dont want to get into tankhealing as Holy. Ever.

Disc priest here. I can tell you that from my experience, it's a LOT easier to heal as holy in 10 man instances. I am having no problem healing Sinestra 25 or Neffy HC 25, yet I still have problems healing Cho'gall (10) or even 5-mans sometimes.

I think disc is more of a support or tank healer. Doing raid healing as disc and putting the same effort, don't expect to go anywhere near holy (Talking about raid HEALING, not shield spamming, which if you just started raiding, shouldn't be viable anyway).

Well to be fair... citing Sinestra as an example isn't all that objective of an example--- its like saying during Heroic LK you had no problem healing as disc. I'd even argue as disc (since the biggest "issue" you have as disc is managing your mana on 25 man when raid healing) it is exaggeratedly simplified since in P3 you have infinite mana (essence of the red), and massive burst AOE when she breathes. (just a perspective as I've healed Sinestra25 both as holy and disc- depending on healer makeup and other priests available)

But to get to the OP's point, we need more information:
10s? 25s? Normal or HM? Other Healer Make-up?

Last edited by derevka; 2011-05-14 at 10:24 PM.
Reason: clarity and grammar

Holy can out produce any other healer, your doing it wrong and im not saying that to be a dick. However holy is very well suited to 10 or 25m. Shaman should not even be a competitor, Druid possibly but all he will do is the same as a disc priest which is soften the dmg going out making way for PoH to fill in where the Hots or shields left off.

Words of advice your timers pay attention to them>Meters. Fights like atramedes have a PoM out just b4 Searing flames and PoH mid cast, end w/ a quick Circle and push on. Alakir just rofl ur PoM PoH and Circle during p2/p3 16-18k hps w/o a problem. Goodluck bud also dont use innerwill use innerfire.

Originally Posted by derevka

Well to be fair... citing Sinestra as an example isn't all that objective of an example--- its like saying during Heroic LK you had no problem healing as disc. I'd even argue as disc (since the biggest "issue" you have as disc is managing your mana on 25 man when raid healing) it is exaggeratedly simplified since in P3 you have infinite mana (essence of the red), and massive burst AOE when she breathes. (just a perspective as I've healed Sinestra25 both as holy and disc- depending on healer makeup and other priests available)

But to get to the OP's point, we need more information:
10s? 25s? Normal or HM? Other Healer Make-up?

Sinestra as holy is just the best possible spec thats why u frequently see 2 holy priests on WoL

1) never look at meters, as few ppl before said, discipline doing monster hps cause of shield absorbs
2) i played both spec's at normal raids and to be honest in the same tank and healers (except me ofc) setup , our group have less problems with me as holy.
3) if u played holy at wotlk , forget your habbits, its definetly diffrent as was before
4) check your build
5) learn to use your chakra smart - chakra is your best friend now, like i was using single target one (moment_of_shame) on magmaw
6) watch a lot of movies , there you can see what spell are used when if u dont feel so confident with your 'rotation'
7) dont expect that you will do same healing ammount on fights were tank get most dmg, as paladin or shaman does , you simply cant react so fast, or u get oom

sorry for my english, hope i helped a lot. hi5 mate , had same problems

I think that holy actually takes skill and it is rather hard topping the meters since you actually have
to compete and healing snipe people and then disc just spams DA and shields with no real
competition or heal sniping involved so if you think the problem is the other healers are too good I guess
you could try out disc for a bit